archiveJohn Divine

Key takeaways: Cryptocurrencies are incredibly volatile and not for all investors. Decide if they fit your risk tolerance before diving in. Bitcoin and Ether are in a league of their own as the two best cryptocurrencies to buy. Four more speculative cryptos are worth a look, each with their own defining characteristics. In a span of just 15 years, cryptocurrencies emerged from obscurity to become an important part of financial markets. But there's one thing the industry's evolution hasn't eradicated: extreme volatility.At its peak in November 2021, the crypto market...

After a rough 2022, stocks took a strong turn upward in 2023, sparked by the slowing pace of rate hikes, declining inflation and a resilient job market: a trio of good omens that could portend the elusive but highly desired "soft landing" for the U.S. economy.With that backdrop, and with the Federal Reserve now projecting as many as three interest rate cuts in 2024, stocks have been given the green light to run, and all three major U.S. stock market indexes are sitting on healthy gains as the last days...

One of the more intriguing financial trends that gained steam last year was the de-dollarization movement. This is an effort by a growing number of countries to reduce the role of the U.S. dollar in international trade. Countries like India, China, Brazil, Malaysia and Bolivia, among others, are seeking to set up trade channels using currencies other than the almighty dollar. With so much of the world economy reshaping itself in the post-pandemic landscape, is the reserve status of the U.S. dollar going to be the next domino to fall?To...